Well, it looks like Slaine and Sinead are up to their necks in it again, as the Celtic warrior takes on the Yaldabaoth’s army of stone cold killers!
Series artist Simon Davis provided the zarjaz jumping on cover to Prog 2015 to celebrate the return of the warped warrior! Below we can see Simon’s rough, which has a real Goscinny and Uderzo vibe…
Slaine the Gaul!
With the rough sorted, Simon created the beautiful finished version – wow!
Stone Killer!
Huge, huge thanks to the brilliant Simon Davis for sending the zarjaz images!
Welcome to a special edition of 2000AD Covers Uncovered which celebrates the beautiful work of award winning portrait artist Simon Davis. A fine artist of some repute, Simon is an associate of The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists as well as the Vice-President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. We are extremely lucky to have such an esteemed artist adding his unique talent on one of Tharg’s most beloved characters. His dazzling style of broad brush strokes and unconventional blocks of colour complement the world of the Warped One beautifully.
In this special feature, we will look at all of Simon’s covers and cover sketches since he took over as Slaine artist in residence. I didn’t think it too many…
When the announcement was made that Simon would be taking over from Clint Langley on Slaine duties, Tharg wasted no time in getting the artist to provide his debut cover for the character. Prog 1844 celebrated thirty years of the character and saw the beginning of The Book of Scars story. This twisted tale saw Slaine revisit some of his earlier adventures with some stellar artists that have made their mark on the strip.
Below is the sketch for the cover…
Slaine never got the hang of smiling for the camera…
And the finished masterpiece…
Slaine learned the hard way about messin with elecricity…
Simon’s tenure in the strip began in ‘A Simple Killing’ in Prog 1874, however we had to wait until 1880 to get his glorious study of the mysterious Sinead. We’ll start with a couple of sketches…
Slaine the chestburster!
Sinead’s new tattoo was lovely…
Followed by the sumptuous main event!
Little Miss Sunshine she aint…
Two progs later, Simon knocked it out of the Causeway with this beautiful wraparound (should that be Warparound?) cover showing Slaine take on a Collossus on the lush island of Monadh…
Let the wild rumpus start!
They did the mash! They did the monster mash!
And finally for that arc, Slaine races against the Miscreations to save Sinead from Gododin’s blade…
Ugly scenes in Newcastle following their relegation…
Shane McGowen has let himself go…
When Slaine returned, Simon provided this stunning portrait of the Warped Warrior, sadly no sketch for this one and it’s easily one of my favourites…
Portrait of a Sassairian Killer!
Slaine’s adventures led him to a fierce battle with a Trojan army in Prog 1930, giving us this gorgeous cover…
“Trojan Fett? Trojan Fett? Where?”
Trojan Phwoooor!
WARPSPASM!!!
Slaine was a mess, first thing on a morning…
Get Ugly!
When Slaine returned in prog 1979 he’d been battling with Gort for yonks, was beaten black and blue and sported this rather fetching shiner! Still, you should see the other guy…
The whupped warrior!
Someone put the Shroud of Turin in the wash with a blue sock…
A fortnight ago, we learned about Slaine’s rather yummy mummy Macha, an excellent archer and somewhat questionable role model for her son!
Bowny Mum
“You’ve got red on you…”
Which brings us up to date with this weeks’ spectacular as Slaine (still sporting that lovely shiner) follows in his mother’s footsteps and unleashes some arrows! Hmmm, makes me fancy a pint of cider…
“Oi Harold! Look at this…”
“Keep out of the black and into the red. NUTHING in this game, for two in a bed.”
Huge, huge thanks to Simon for sending the images, he deserves a hero harness of his own!
The new Sláine story – Brutania Chronicles Book 3: Psychopomp – begins in 2000 AD Prog 1979 on Wednesday 4th May and we’re delighted to give 2000 AD fans a sneak peek of Simon Davis’ gorgeous artwork on this new series!
Written by Pat Mills, this series picks up directly where we left off at the end of the previous book, the woad warrior is going head to head with the powerful Primordial, whom Sláine has learnt is his old friend Gort, who submitted himself to the evil Drune Lords for experimentation. The bloodletting is only just beginning as the barbarian battles not just childhood pals but secrets about his own past.
